Sunday, December 30

It's still the holiday season so indulge one last time before your New Year's resolutions and devour two too many of these light and creamy profiterols filled with Chantilly cream. Stack the golden cream puffs on a tiered cake stand and serve with bubbly Prosecco as a perfect way to ring in the 2013!

Jason made these years before in cooking school at The French Culinary Institute (called choux à la crème) but I wanted to find an Italian version. So I emailed our friends Paola and Antonio the owners of our favorite artisan gelateria, Maki and asked them for their favorite profiterole recipe. Anything dessert related especially if chocolate is involved they are our favorite place to turn. Below is the recipe Antonio learned while taking a cooking courses at La Cucina Italiana as well as the "Profiterole Pyramid" topped with a healthy helping of chocolate cream!!

Bring the water, together with the butter, the salt and a pinch of sugar, to the boil.

Add the flour and mix well keeping the pan on the fire for just a couple of minutes, until the mixture is well amalgamated and it comes off the sides of the pan.

Let it cool down a little before adding the eggs, one at a time: mix well the egg before adding the following one.

Put the mixture into a sac a poche or pastry bag and place the profiterole or 'choux' (they should be as big as a walnut) on a baking tray covered with parchment paper.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes at 180/200° C until they puff up and get a nice golden color.

Tip: Antonio would reduce the amount of butter (20gr less) should he need to fry the profiterol (he would also add a pinch of baking soda) while the above recipe is good if you want to cook them in the oven.

Filling: ( You can also fill with custard cream or even whipped cream)

Wednesday, December 26

An update on Jason's winter project of bread baking with a natural starter. The latest loaves are spot on! So here's what's changed, in Jason words (a cook who hates to measure precisely): I controlled everything a lot better especially the temperature and weights. I also worked my dough a lot more at the beginning to give it better structure. Most importantly I learned to watch the dough not the clock, just because it says it should be 3 hours that could vary greatly.

Thanks for all the suggestions on places to warm the dough. I put the dough into a cold oven with a pan of boiling water added to the bottom and that did the trick. I get twice as much oven spring as I did before!

Before: Bake #2 , After: Bake #7

For those of you that requested the recipe, I am using Chad
Robertson's famous country loaf from Tartine Bakery. Rather than putting
the recipe here, I’ll link to the article in Martha Stewart Living
where the basic recipe was
featured. The recipe is simple, it's all in the procedure which is several pages long. For a lot of my bread baking questions I
have been visiting www.thefreshloaf.com for videos & troubleshooting
tips from serious bread bakers.For the Dough:

Water (80 degrees), 750 grams

Leaven, 200 grams

White bread flour, 900 grams

Whole-wheat flour, 100 grams

Salt, 20 grams

I have the luxury of time right now so I am baking bread daily, tweaking ever so slightly here and there keeping notes on everything.

Friday, December 21

Christmas celebrated in Le Marche, Italy is not complete without a heart-warming bowl of cappelletti in brodo or little stuffed hats in broth. I was once told is a dish served for only
those you love because it takes so much time & patience to make!
In our area this dish is traditionally served on Christmas day for lunch and New
Year's Eve for dinner.

Take
the time and make it from scratch, buy the freshest eggs (it will make the color of the dough
nice & golden) and enjoy this homemade pasta the way it was meant to be
eaten - surrounded by family. (Plus they freeze well so you can have them on-hand, at the ready all winter long!)

Sunday, December 16

Inspired by the book and video by Tartine Bakery,
Jason's love for bread baking has been re-ignited! He lovingly feeds
his mother/starter every morning created by natural yeast in the air and
flour from the fields surrounding our farmhouse. He takes notes on
everything, the bubbles in the starter, the smell, the airy pockets in
the dough, the time each step is started/completed. The Tartine Bread
Book is not just about simply baking bread but becoming a bread baker.
Join us as we chronicle the steps of baking bread in a cold stone
farmhouse in Italy!

Crust and color looks good but still pancake like and heavy in hand, not light. There's no rise in the oven.

Again here, notice the right side droops down. The dough rises near
the kitchen fireplace, the warmest place in the house - but you can see
the final product is still a bit flat.

Some air pockets
have formed around the crust but the middle still looks
too dense and compact. There are three possible causes for the dense
crumb: 1. Keeping a constant temperature in my cold kitchen during the
bulk fermentation or the first
rise. 2. The starter isn't ripe enough when I mix it for the leaven.
(Again - cold temps) or 3. I'm not shaping it right which is why I'm not
getting it to spring up when it bakes.

Any bread bakers out there with experience in high hydration doughs let me know! I'll keep trying in the meantime....

Wednesday, December 12

In snow covered Le Marche, Jason and I chat about a recent trip
to Rome, Antica Ostia and Norcia (Umbria) sharing the best places to
eat along the way. (Check out photos of Rome on our Facebook page.) In Norcia, a village famous for their pork & butchers, we really pig-out! Jason then explains the trials and tribulations of
baking bread in a cold stone farmhouse.

Sunday, December 9

So where do we like to go when Jason wants a night off from cooking? If it's not to the sea for fish then it's the 'hunter's hideaway' high up in the hills above neighboring Apecchio. A no-frills, no menu, family-run, filled with locals, place to eat grilled meat known as Acquapartita or Martinelli's (the family name). The house/restaurant are one in of the same because that's all there is up there. (For any of you that have visited our inn/cooking school they are even more remote than us!) As you climb higher and deeper into the foothills of the Apennines you begin to wonder if you've made a wrong turn as there is nothing but a few farmhouses and far reaching views of the rich fertile valley below. You'll know you've arrived once you see a half dozen country cars and mud covered panda 4x4's parked haphazardly along the side of the road.

The warmth of the fireplace and smell of grilled meats welcomes you and ignites my growing hunger. Now, settle in, because this is gonna be good!

The menu varies a little by season, usually there are three pastas and three sauces to choose from. During the fall and winter is best to visit while hunting season is open. I suggest ordering TWO pastas: half moons (agnolotti) filled with meat paired with the wild mushroom sauce and pappardelle with boar (cinghiale) sauce. For the meat course, if you have a buona forchetta (hearty appetite) I suggest that the table order TWO dishes: share a plate of mixed grill which will consist of sausage, lamb chops and pork ribs AND the grilled steak with aged balsamic, arugula and parmesan (tagliata di manzo). Then go for the gold and order the fried potatoes, they taste so good because they are fried in strutto and not to be missed! Just to round it off nicely get the salad, it's light and fresh and just what you need after all that! Some opt for cheese at the end of their meal, delivered as a whole wheel of pecorino on a wooden board with a knife to slice as you like.

(that's the guy from Pesaro to Jason's left and the most delicious dessert from his mamma.)

On our most recent visit we were befriended by the table next to us, intrigued since I was taking so many pictures of my food, they began to comment on what they thought would make a good shot! We joined tables, introduced ourselves, poured more local red wine and chatted about food. The two guys told us that they have been coming here to this restaurant for over 30 years, when it was just this one tiny room. Now they escape work in Pesaro (over an hour away) every Friday for lunch in the mountains here among old friends. They asked Gabriele to bring us some plates and the tort from the back. As it arrived at the table they lite up and said "Please have a slice of tort made by my mamma." Incredibly and wonderfully Italian, the man from Pesaro beamed with pride. Yes, he loves a big lunch here, followed by dessert made by mamma, "because she makes it best." And it really was the best way to end the meal.

Friday, December 7

The November/December 2013 issue of Tastes of Italia includes a lovely article about Jason and I living in Le Marche during the holidays and a few of our tried and true Christmas recipes. The article "Holiday Feasts in Le Marche, A young American couple embraces tradition in a 13th Century Italian village" written by Susan Van Allen is a heart warming look at how we celebrate Christmas in Le Marche - surrounded by food, family and friends. Plus the rest of the magazine is filled with countless great recipe ideas for your holiday menu from some of your favorite celebrity Chefs!

Saturday, December 1

A rainy day podcast, we recap Thanksgiving and helping a neighbor
build a greenhouse. As usual the conversation turns to food with an
update on Jason's bread starter, born and raised here in Le Marche plus
talks of a 'secret' lunch spot, the hunter's hideaway in the hills above
Apecchio. Jason then shares tips for making creamy delicious risotto.
This week's podcast is short & sweet. Let us know any suggestions
you have or requests for topics to talk about!